Kay Luo Jun 19, 2008
Fifteen hundred LinkedIn users answered U.S Senator Barack Obama's question on how the next president could help small business and entrepreneurs thrive. Since then he has become the Presidential Candidate of the Democratic party. In recent speeches Senator Obama has proposed a competitiveness agenda centered around "education and energy, innovation and infrastructure, fair trade and reform".
Just earlier today, he posed his second question on LinkedIn Answers asking the 23 million professionals on LinkedIn what ideas they have to keep America competitive in the years ahead and in less than a day it has garnered over 400 answers.
If you'd like to see a more detailed exposition of Senator Obama's thoughts on the competitiveness agenda check out the below video blogged by Scott Goodstein on the Obama Campaign's Community blog.
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Please Note: This is not an endorsement.
We welcome participation from candidates of all parties posing
questions to our professional user community. We also encourage your active participation through your answers and comments.
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Mario Sundar May 14, 2008
For the second straight week in a row, LinkedIn Answers' question of the week focuses on housing and real estate and both relate to the 2nd most emailed article of that day from the New York Times (NYT). This week's question shines the spotlight on continued national interest in personal real estate as evidenced by this NYT article titled "Collateral Foreclosure damage for Condo owners".
LinkedIn Answers' Question of the week: What are the Top 10 Factors you consider when investing in real estate?
Answers category: Personal Real Estate
The question from Joel Landou, Supply Quality Engineer at Boeing, even surprised him in terms of the quality and number of answers that he offered to consolidate the answers into a nice spreadsheet for those interested. Even better, Doug Boedecker, another LinkedIn user spent an entire hour on Saturday explaining to Joel his analysis for investing in real estate. Joel says:
Thanks to Doug Boedecker!!! Doug spent about
an hour on Saturday explaining his detailed analysis methodology for
investing in real estate in select neighborhoods in the Mid West and
Southern states. I believe he has some very profitable ideas and I
highly recommend him to everyone of my contacts that are interested in
investing in real estate in the future.
Besides Doug's answer, here was the best answer selected by Joel from Ray Garrett Jr., Realtor/Investor in ZipRealty. I'm going to publish the answer in its entirety for the benefit of the readers, long as it may be. Consider yourself warned.
Why:
Without a doubt, the most important question to ask is “why am I
investing.” Investing strategies may sometimes be diametrically opposed
based on the desired outcome of the strategy. For instance, if an
investor seeks to build a portfolio of monthly income producing
properties, he may consider buying homes in impoverished areas where a
greater number of people rent. If he wants to flip homes, this would
not be the best strategy.
Where:
Again, location is a very important part of strategy. When one buys
a personal residence, he may select a property in an older, established
neighborhood. While this may be an excellent decision for a personal
residence, investors tend to gravitate toward neighborhoods on the
upswing of their lifecycles. Also, rental returns are often higher in
areas the investor would not personally choose to live.
Typically investors should focus on one or two neighborhoods if
possible. This way, the investor will be aware of the intimate details
of the area, and he will know exactly what homes sell for, and, more
importantly, what he should pay.
How:
Very few residential property investors would be successful if
traditional bank financing were the only method by which an investor
could acquire properties. Bank financing is certainly an important
part, but unconventional methods such as lease purchasing, wrap around
mortgages, sandwich leasing, and purchase options are all important
strategies when acquiring investment properties. An investor should
spend considerable time determining by which means he will acquire
desirable properties, and what resources and capital he has available
prior to locating properties.
Who:
Very few investors will spend their entire career flying solo. At
some point, most investors partner on deals. Investors should always
make a list of people who would invest with them if an offer was
presented that both parties feel could be mutually lucrative. Nothing
is more frustrating than finding that “home-run” property, and not
having the resources to acquire it.
Also, many people are involved in your investment property. They
all need to make money. If they make money they will be happy to help
you make money. The most important of these people is your contractor.
Many novice investors try to cut almost all the profit from the
contractor to maximize their own profit on a single investment
property. This strategy will eventually spell doom. Everyone needs to
make money. I’m not saying that an investor should pay whatever the
contractor asks, but be fair and share the wealth. The investor has
most all the risk, so he should get the lion’s share, but he needs good
contractors who also need to make a living.
What:
Some investors buy a wide variety of homes, but most investors pick
a style, price range, or home type to specialize in. If someone
specializes in period craftsman homes, he will become very familiar
with his typical buyer, and he will quickly develop a repertoire of
contractors who specialize in these types of homes. I cannot emphasis
strongly enough how important it is to have good relationships with
several contractors.
When:
Every neighborhood goes through a life cycle. At what point of the
life cycle an investor buys is high dependent on the investment
strategy. Unless the investor is a seasoned, it is best to consult a
professional for information on neighborhood life cycles. This
information will prove invaluable to the investor.
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Mario Sundar Apr 29, 2008
Just a few hours ago, Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times (NYT) describes "American's confidence continuing to plunge this month, as their homes lose value at the fastest rate in two decades, according to reports released on Tuesday". (Read the entire article here, the 2nd most widely emailed article on NYT's website today)
Given the concerns around the housing slump, many users on LinkedIn have been asking these questions on LinkedIn Answers, which is our featured question for this week. Frank Sexton, Manager of Commerce & Development at National Hockey League and recent homeowner, wonders if he should look into refinancing given today's housing market.
While a few answers asked for more details, and a few other agents recommended refinancing, here are a couple of answers that highlighted the pros and cons of refinancing with regards to Frank's situation that may have helped him.
Paul Gruenther, a real estate agent at Vanguard Realty outlines a couple of options --
While, Brian Smith, Senior Loan Officer says --
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Check out some of our more recent LinkedIn Answers' questions of the week in our Answers category within the blog.
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Mario Sundar Apr 23, 2008
Rising gas prices have always been a topic of interest on news networks, but today it seemed to be all over CNN, including a news clip (featuring a cameo by LinkedIn's Scott Roberts; after the jump). But I digress - here's the LinkedIn Answers' question of the week, featuring a question on the correlation between rising gas prices and telecommuting.
LinkedIn Answers' Question of the week:
John S. Webster asks if the request for telecommuting has increased, relevant to increasing gas prices?
The majority of the answers focus on the practicality of telecommuting. Some users like Curt Braverman, believe very strongly in the enhanced productivity that telecommuting enables.
And, there were other LinkedIn users (like Dave Cox) who advocate carpools or ride shares, even those with hybrid cars.
Related links (with video and photo links):
1. Scott Roberts' cameo on CNN:
Speaking of hybrid car owners, we've got our very own Scott Roberts - Sr. Director of Business Development (incorrectly identified as Scott Douglas in the below video) talks about rising gas prices in San Francisco. And, a little bit of product placement is always good! (check out Scott's LinkedIn fleece sold at our online store)
2. LinkedIn Shuttle (from San Francisco to Mountain View):
Given the rapid pace of hiring here at LinkedIn (check out LinkedIn open jobs here), we've actually had a shuttle service from San Francisco to Mountain View that has slowly increased to full capacity over the past few months. Here's a picture.
Thanks to Brad for the picture!
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Mario Sundar Apr 09, 2008
Readers of the blog and LinkedIn users may have noticed our recent LinkedIn Answers' campaigns centered around themes such as business (Jimmy Wales - Wikipedia), politics (Barack Obama - Democratic Presidential candidate), journalism/blogging (Kara Swisher - Wall Street Journal) and book launches (Jon Swartz - USA Today). The most recent question in that series posed by Bill Gates (Chairman at Microsoft) received over 3500 answers.
Today, we continue along that path with a question from John McCain, the Republican Presidential candidate 2008, who asks:
"Our country is faced with challenges as we enter into the 21st
century. I am prepared to effectively deal with these challenges and
lead our country as President on Day 1. Please let me know what you
view as the biggest challenge facing America and how you would like
your President do address this challenge" - John McCain
Feel free to check out John McCain's LinkedIn Group. Alternatively, you
can also access McCain's LinkedIn Profile, where you can add a McCain
08 campaign badge to your profile. Better still, is finding a community of professionals who share the campaign badge with you, sorted by degrees away from you.
Rather than leaving comments on the post, we encourage you to answer the senator's question on LinkedIn Answers. There will be a follow-up post that summarizes some of the best answers that have come in right here on the blog. Stay tuned!
Please Note: This is not an endorsement.
We welcome participation from candidates of all parties posing
questions to LinkedIn's professional user community. We also encourage your active participation through your answers, questions
and comments.
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Krista Canfield Apr 01, 2008
We’ve had some pretty phenomenal questions pop up on LinkedIn Answers over the past few months. LinkedIn users have had the opportunity to weigh in on questions posed by high profile folks like Bill Gates and Barack Obama.
This week we’re proud to feature a question from USA Today reporter, Jon Swartz. Jon and his colleague, fellow USA Today reporter Byron Acohido, spent nearly four years building the platform for their book, Zero Day Threat: The Shocking Truth of How Banks & Credit Bureaus Help Cyber Crooks Steal Your Money and Identity, which is due in bookstores in early April.
Since Jon and Byron’s book focuses on the topic of cybercrime, Jon decided to pose a question on LinkedIn asking if any of LinkedIn’s more than 20 million users have ever been burned by cybercrime, and what they think corporate and federal authorities do to slow down the threat. Cybercrime is clearly a painful process for anyone to go through and so far Jon has gotten some pretty passionate responses.
Here are two points-of-view on that take. There are some like Ron Wiles who believe Cybercrime is here to stay.
On the flipside, there are others like Mel Drives who advocates best practices to drive down such instances of cybercrime.
Since the question is still open, feel free to not only check them out in LinkedIn Answers but also add in your own two cents about this hot topic.
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Mario Sundar Mar 25, 2008
While some of you are reading the latest on the XM buyout yesterday, I had a chance to peruse some of our top question on LinkedIn Answers on the topic of Mergers and Acquisitions.
Just yesterday, the buyout was approved by the Justice Department.
The Justice Department has approved the $5 billion buyout of XM Satellite Radio by a rival, Sirius Satellite Radio, saying the deal was unlikely to hurt competition or consumers. (Source: New York Times)
So, if you were unaware, LinkedIn Answers has a sub-category called "Mergers and Acquisitions" under "Finance and Accounting" that professionals bouncing ideas ranging from valuation of an acquisition to research sources on the topic. Here are three picks from within that category that'll give you a feel for the quality of questions and answers that you find on the topic of M&A within LinkedIn Answers. Let's start with one of the open questions.
Yes, that questions (above) should have been spell checked, but despite that it yielded a slew of insightful answers from the following:
Or, more in-depth answers, particularly this one from a manager of corporate development at 3M - Zafar Khan.
There are other questions that help provide resources to many of your unanswered questions:
* Sergey Prasol, asks what'd be a useful source in the internet about M&A that covers topics ranging from financial model templates to theoretical info. Here it is.
The answers range from Business Value Express to Pratt's Stats. A ton of valuable information for those immersed in this field. For a plethora of answers on the topic of Mergers and Acquisitions from over 20 million professionals, go here.
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Mario Sundar Mar 03, 2008
Last week's question of the week from Chairman of Microsoft, Bill Gates, has fetched over 3000 Answers in just over 3 days alone. This is probably a question with one of the most LinkedIn Answers we've ever received. So feel free to join the conversation and add your thoughts as well.
The LinkedIn Answers' question of this week is on productivity (Check out LinkedIn Answers' Career Development category). Pete Johnson, HP.com's Chief Architect at Hewlett Packard asks:
Folders, Filters, Rules and Getting Things Done (GTD) were some of the Answers that found repeated mention. In particular, GTD popularized by productivity experts ranging from Lifehacker to 43 Folders finds its avatars on most of today's email applications. The easiest way for you to get started on GTD would be to label or tag all your incoming mails with GTD labels of "Next Actions", Waiting For, Someday, etc... and process it, but let's hear it from those who posted LinkedIn Answers.
Besides the usual suspects - folders, rules and filters; here are a couple of answers that offer productivity tips from an Outlook perspective:
Ron Bell, Vice President and Deputy General Counsel at Yahoo! Inc., recommends an email organizer for Outlook and follows that up with productivity tips as well.
Steve Patrizi, Director of Advertising Sales at LinkedIn (you may recall his earlier blog post on the LinkedIn blog) suggests the often under utilized drag-and-drop capabilities in Outlook as well as desktop search.
If you've a favorite productivity tip (email or otherwise) not covered by the thread, feel free to leave a comment.
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Mario Sundar Feb 28, 2008
From time to time, LinkedIn Answers has featured some of the greatest minds on the planet (ranging from Jimmy Wales to Barack Obama) pose thought-provoking questions to the millions of professionals on LinkedIn, which in most cases yields an avalanche of well-thought out responses.
Today, we're glad to announce a question (that straddles education and technology) from one of the foremost and well recognized technologists of our generation and TIME Magazine's pick for one of the most influential personalities of the 20th century - Bill Gates, Chairman at Microsoft.
We will be updating this post with select answers as they come rolling in, so please stay tuned. And, don't forget to add your 2 cents to the conversation.
It's still the first half of the day and we've already received close to a 1000 answers. So here are some interesting answers from the initial stream of Answers.
Jeff Yablon (President & CEO, PC-VIP Inc.) kicked off the conversation with his take on encouraging the youth, from his perspective as a Dad.
While, Ed Dodds (Strategist and Systems Architect) suggests that learning from good corporate governance as well as open source community collaboration may be the place to start.
Nils Beers, inventor of a solar powered speedboat, laments the lack of innovative spirit in today's youth.
And for a global perspective, here's an answer from Sanjay Gupta an Mobile Solutions Entrepreneur from India.
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Did you know: Bill Gates was named by TIME Magazine as one of the 100 people who most influenced the 20th century, as well as one of the 100 most influential people of 2004, 2005, and 2006! (Source: Wikipedia)
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Mario Sundar Feb 18, 2008
As we roll out the LinkedIn Answers' question of the week on the blog, let's stick to the theme of Personal Finances for this week as well. Here's a question that many professionals grapple with during their work life: What to do with a 401K at my old firm? And, more importantly, when I switch jobs are there any advantages/disadvantages to rolling it into an annuity? Read on to find the Best Answer to above question.
Question asked by | Matthew G. Sherman (Director of Marketing at Welsh & Katz)
Best Answer provided by | Michelle Ogden (Private Wealth Manager)
As a Retirement Plan Specialist I can tell you the majority of the time
the Rollover IRA is going to be your best bet. As a Certified Financial
Planner I can tell you that the Majority of the time an Annuity is NOT
appropriate. I am not saying that it is NEVER appropriate, so all the
Insurance Reps can back off on the hate mail, I just know the Majority
of the time (like 99% is my guess, ha ha). I look at Company Retirement
plans daily and it is true that your investment selection is
significantly less, but also the fees to be in the plan are many times
much higher than doing it on your own. However, on occasion I have seen
some 401(k) plans that have GREAT investment options and very LOW fees
and in those situations I suggest rolling into the company 401(k).
Without knowing the details of your new 401k it is hard to say. The
thing that is probably more important to know is that the rules for
distribution from a 401(k) and IRA are NOT the same. I do not know what
kind of money you are talking about here but if you have a sizable
Rollover you may want to consider these differences in distribution
rules. Each 401k plan is unique to the plan document. I would suggest
you verify what is considered a hardship withdrawal from your plan
adviser prior to making a decision. A Hardship withdrawal is defined as
a financial hardship that is “immediate and heavy” where no other
resources can be reasonably available to meet the need. Here are some
examples:
1. Non-reimbursed Medical Bills - Provide copies of the medical bills
and your insurance provider’s Explanation of Benefits statements (EOBs)
showing the amounts covered and not covered by insurance.
2. Purchase of your principal residence: Attach copies of the contract and mortgage application.
3. Funeral expenses: Provide a copy of the bill showing that you
are the responsible party and a statement indicating the amount of life
insurance coverage carried by the deceased.
4. Tuition expenses: Attach a copy of the college or university’s
bill showing the amount you owe for the next semester, quarter, or 12
month period.
5. Threat of foreclosure: Provide a copy of the notice you have
received from your mortgage company or landlord regarding the
implementation of eviction or foreclosure proceedings and evidence of
the balance due.
Keep in mind Hardship withdrawals still incur the 10% Penalty and
20% withholding for Taxes. I had one participant that wanted to
withdrawal 401k money for the transportation and hotel cost incurred to
take her child to have medically necessary surgery in another state and
those expenses didn't qualify for withdrawal.
NOW for the IRA distributions:
It’s your money, you take it out, you pay 10% penalty and taxes.
PERIOD! Of course there are exceptions to the 10% Penalty such as
Death, Disability, First Home Purchase up to 10K, Qualified Education
Expenses, Medical Expenses in excess of 7.5% of Income, Substantially
equal payments, Distributions used to pay Medical Insurance Premiums
after separation from employment & after 12 consecutive weeks of
unemployment compensation. I am sure there are others but these are the
most common, consult your CPA.
Also if you plan to convert your IRA to a Roth in 2010 (regardless
of household income) like I am suggesting to the majority of my
clients, you will not be able to do that while it is in a Company 401k
plan without terminating your employment.
I favor the IRA because of the accessibility in the event you need
access to YOUR money. If you do not qualify for a Hardship as defined
by your Employers Plan Document you can NOT get at YOUR money unless
you quit your job.
AND unfortunately I am the one that has to tell that to 401(k) plan
participants when they call in desperate need of their OWN MONEY.
Did you know? You can tap into your professional network for questions you may have on Retirement and Estate Planning. Have a question? Ask here.
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Mario Sundar Feb 14, 2008
With Tax season fast approaching, I'm sure many of you have tons of questions racing through your mind. In the midst of such noise the easiest way to find clarity on unanswered questions would be to turn to your professional network on LinkedIn.
And, that's exactly what Jack Chou (from our product team) did when he asked the following question on LinkedIn Answers under the "Personal Taxes" category.
The two Best Answer selections for Jack's question:
The first of the two best answers came from a CPA at Wicks Emmett Hatfield & Chappell CPAs
Tax professionals offer a wide array of services in addition to tax
preparation, such as tax planning, audit representation, et al.
TurboTax can't represent you during an IRS audit or before the courts.
You should go see a tax professional if you have opportunities to save
money on your taxes by doing something before the end of the year - Is
the AMT going to bite you? What can you do to prevent it? You should
also go see a tax pro if you think that a position you want to take on
your tax return has a chance of getting audited - Did you win a lawsuit
with arrangements that could be construed as lost wages? You should
definitely see a tax pro when it costs you more in terms of time and
money when you do it yourself - How much did the box cost? How much
time are you spending at the computer entering the information and what
else could you have done with that time? Did you miss some nuance of
the tax law that could have saved you some more money?
Stock options are difficult to do on your own because an ISO isn't
taxed when exercised for regular tax purposes, but is ordinary income
for AMT purposes. This really hit home many years ago during the tech
boom with the people who got hit with huge AMT tax bills because they
exercised their ISOs and then the stock was sold at a loss a few years
later - Merlo, Tax Court, April 25, 2006.
Real estate can be tricky because if buying and selling land is
your job then the land counts as inventory and any gain would be
ordinary income subject to self employment taxes if you file a schedule
C. If you hold onto land as an investment then it is a capital gain.
But what if the land also includes a house? What is the value of the
house versus the value of the land? Is it your primary residence? Is it
a rental? Did it switch from a rental to your primary residence? Do you
want to figure out the depreciation every year? What would the
depreciation be?
When you have more questions than answers for a particular area of the tax return, you should see a tax professional.
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The other selected best answer was posted by the editorial director at the Financial Publishing Group at Newsmax Media, Inc.
I started using an accountant soon after having kids. Not that kids
changed my financial position so drastically (love those little tax
deductions, love 'em to death!) but because I simply didn't have time
for it.
You'll find that hiring a preparer is a wash, kind of. You still
have to gather and understand your documentation, which takes time.
That said, sticking with a good one means you'll start to see a
consistency in the work, you'll notice deduction opportunities
throughout the year, and you'll rest assured that (in most cases), a
pro will be aggressive on your behalf without being nutty.
I would never go back, for one. My tax guy runs me about $350 a
year (deductible as well) but it's absolutely worth both my time and
the satisfaction of knowing it's done right and to my advantage.
And, there's more. Feel free to check out 13 more answers to Jack's question, all of which provide unique perspectives that may prove valuable for the tax season. While you're at it, check out all other questions within the "Personal Taxes" category or even ask your own question on Personal Taxes to your professional network.
Did you know? There are seven sub-categories under the Personal Finance section within LinkedIn Answers | Individual Insurance, Personal Debt Management, Personal Investing, Personal Real Estate, Personal Taxes, Retirement & Estate Planning, and Wealth Management!
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Mario Sundar Nov 01, 2007
Last week on this post we left with you with a question asked by Karl Long, Social Media Integration Manager at Nokia on LinkedIn Answers where he answered a question on how one can make blogs more enjoyable. Given below is the question followed by answers found both on LinkedIn Answers as well as across the blogosphere on the same topic:
Karl Long, responds to a question on LinkedIn Answers via his blog:
Someone on LinkedIn just posed this question “How can one make blogs more enjoyable or What is that you do to maintain the popularity/readership of your blog?“.
Here are my thoughts on this, this may not be all that leads to a
successful blog, but these are for me pretty essential ingredients:
Focus, Passion, and Originality.
Here's the original question:
And, here's Karl's response that was chosen as Best Answer:
Focus - I think one of the most important choices a blogger makes when
they start their blog is what their focus is. Think about a first time
visitor getting dropped on your blog from a search engine or
stumbleupon, are they going to understand in 2 seconds exactly what
your blog is about? If the answer is yes you will build a readership
and you will have a successful blog. If not, you may well build a
successful blog but it will take years as opposed to months.
Passion - This is the only possible way that you will be able to
sustain regular posting of a high enough quality over the course of
years. If you don't have the passion your blog will become a ghost town
very quickly. People talk about the passion in the writing, and how
important it is for readers, but IMHO the passion is all about the
ability to sustain you through the emotional roller coaster ride of
writing a blog. Sure your passion will come through in your writing,
but it is your passion that will keep you plugging away when no one is
coming back, no one is commenting, and no one is linking to you.
Passion may not be the only thing that will drag you along, but it is
the most enjoyable so unless you are a masochist you better love what
your talking about.
Originality - In branding terms, what differentiates you from the
crowded playing field of blogs all talking about the same thing. They
don't call the blogosphere an echo chamber for nothing, because most of
the time everyone is reflecting and amplifying what else is happening
around the blogosphere. Original content and original ideas in the
blogosphere stand out like beacons in the night, and not to labor the
metaphor but they also attract other bloggers like moths to a flame :-)
Other's seem to also triangulate on three key factors, like
Primary focus is content (still King). As Kathie wrote: I write about
subject I'm passionate about, I consider worthy to notify and share.
Second: publish frequently. If you're not planning to write posts
on a regularly basis, you forget your audience. They'll not take your
blog seriously.
Third: make yourself known to search engines, RSS aggregators, listings, social networks, fellow bloggers.
Or Ajay Jain, who referred to a recent article he'd crafted for the Mint, a business daily published in India by The Hindustan Times in partnership with the Wall Street Journal, where he outlines the key factors that enable blogging:
Quantity does not beat quality: While frequent postings may
help you go up the search rankings, don’t do it for the sake of doing
so. Ask yourself if anyone would care to read what you are writing.
Post once or twice a week if need be but ensure it is quality writing.
You don’t want to turn away readers or bury your good pieces under the
debris.
Is it unique? Unless the first blog Rip Van
Winkle goes to after waking up is yours, your content is valuable only
if it is unique. Search engines such as Google can now catch those who
copy content from other sources. Spooky, but true. “A combination of
originality and quality works beautifully—it takes you higher up on the
search engines,” says Lalwani.
Is your content ‘buzzworthy’?
It can be if you offer scoops or write controversial stuff—but be
careful and don’t go over the top. A positive buzz will get people
talking about you and send links and traffic your way.
Are you a blogger? If so, how do you maintain the popularity of your blog?
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Mario Sundar Oct 19, 2007
What started off as a weekly pick of a popular question from
LinkedIn Answers is now becoming a tough job of making our weekly pick
with so many interesting questions popping up. So, this week, we're
featuring two questions from the blogging community along with an
assortment of responses to the question itself. Interestingly, both
these resulted in blog posts with the authors/respondents'
point-of-view:
* Robyn Tippins, Community Manager at MyBlogLog at Yahoo! says on her blog:
Check out the responses, already, after 12 hours, to my question. I
came from my blog post and the rest all came from my 200-ish LinkedIn
contacts.
Is that typical? Do people normally get this large of an answer to
a question or is it that this was just a great question that lots of
people wanted to answer?
Either way, very cool. This will help me a great deal in my talk.
Robyn, I've had great responses the last few times I posed a question to my professional network (here and here).
Could the fact that you are a community manager have something to do
with it? :) But, I digress. So here's the question that Robyn asked her
professional network on LinkedIn, while preparing for a talk she's
working on:
Selected LinkedIn Answers:
Floriana Mulazzi, Marketing and Communication Manager
One of the most rewarded and most powerful blog and web community in Italy (and not only), is the Ducati Motor one.
Very engaging, sincere, honest, it's been one of the first born in
Italy and increased the success of the company since the early 2000. It
is studied in the best economics universities as a successful case
study.
Francois Gossieaux, Entrepreneur, marketing enthusiast, strategist & innovator
eBay has a well documented case of successful customer communities in Germany. Intuit has well documented customer communities. Harley Davidson uses customer communities as part of their new product development very successfully.
WebMD, CarSpace, Samsung, etc...
Jake McKee, Founder & Lead Strategist at Ant's Eye View
Well, I'm biased, but I really am impressed by the various community
activities that LEGO has done and continues to do - from developing
relationships on existing fan sites to the multitude of activities on
LEGO.com for kids, to projects like LEGO Factory, etc.
Macromedia used to be my shining example of how to engage your
consumers. I think the efforts have taken a hit post-Adobe merger, but
they seem to be trying to find themselves again. I think they do a
great job overall of engaging users, much of it behind the scenes in
the product development process.
Lastly, I recently met with a friend from The Economist magazine -
they're trying a HUGE amount of social/digital strategies to see how to
best marry print with web with social. Watch these guys - they're not
getting enough recognition for the stunning amount of work they're
doing.
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Karl Long, Web/Social Media Integration Manager at Nokia, writes on his blog:
Someone on LinkedIn just posed this question “How can one make Blogs more enjoyable or What is that you do to maintain the popularity/readership of your blog?“.
Here are my thoughts on this, this may not be all that leads to a
successful blog, but these are for me pretty essential ingredients:
Focus, Passion, and Originality.
(to be continued next week)
It's great to see how LinkedIn Answers is fueling the knowledge network
that revolves around us and mentioned above are just two such examples. The
blog will explore similar questions from different categories on a weekly basis and you can check those posts out
under the "Answers" category on the blog.
Leave
a comment if you've been impressed with any particular question on
LinkedIn Answers or if you'd like us to feature any particular category
of questions.
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Mario Sundar Oct 05, 2007
Week after week, we highlight questions from LinkedIn Answers on the blog; featured questions from Kara Swisher to Barack Obama. Continuing in the same vein, this week we have a question from Jon Burke, Internet media entrepreneur, on the state of startups and small businesses these days. The question is:
Answer Jon's question
The answers are streaming in. We have 124 LinkedIn Answers thus far and here are a few thought-provoking ones:
Sanford Barr | STIRR Network Co-Founder, Entrepreneur
The sip cash model assumes that the investment market stays fluid.
If things get tight like 2002-2004. Right now there are perhaps too
many investors chasing too few good deals, so cash is relatively cheap.
Raising cash is also a distraction. James Currier also has a point
about "Hitting It Hard" and not wasting time raising money when
execution is more important. The video is up on the STIRR news blog.
Ed Buckingham | Business Manager and Marketing Specialist
I fall into the "little cash" camp. There are many internet startups
that require little more than a couple cheap computers and a decent
server hosting service, nothing more. I couldn't have said it better,
take what little cash you need to grow organically on customer revenue
and that's it.
If, for reasons not mentioned here, you need a large cash infusion to
get started, give considerable thought to your exit strategy. How will
you compensate your investors (Angels, VCs, friends, etc.) and when?
Are you going the M&A or the IPO route? Will this cash go to
SG&A or to compensate an algorithm-wielding scientist?
Lastly and perhaps most important is your startup idea defensible? Can
you create large entry barriers against your competition? For how long?
Will you have competition? (This is both good and bad.) All of this
should impact your decision whether or not to seek out cash.
Danny Robinson | Founder, CEO at Strutta
There are
three factors to be considered before answering this for your
situation.
1) It's not an issue of cash, it's more an issue of dilution and
control. If I could raise $20M for 5% of a startup right now, I'd
obviously do it. But, it should be clear that giving up control early
is always a mistake.
2) If you had the financial discipline, it reduces risk to take
more cash, if you don't have that skill, then taking less cash reduces
risk. Be honest with your yourself, know your weaknesses. Ask your
wife/husband if she/he thinks you know how to spend money wisely.
Spouses usually know the answer better than you.
3) It depends on the cash needs of the business. Some businesses
don't need a ton of capital, some can borrow against receivables
earlier than others. Run the projections and decide that for yourself.
If the business needs so much money, that you would loose control after
raising your first round, then don't start that company.
Carl Weir | Banking Consultant and Mobile Media Owner
I have found over the years that an effective and appropriate prototype
done as lean as possible benefits an investors decision as it shows you
can think out of the box, save your pennies, show initiative and
innovation. As with any investment the investor is looking at your
acumen and the ability to wisely use their money.
An example of this was www.mobileadcasting.com whose product
similar, but very different to www.bluecasting.com, and
www.proximitymedia.com was able to build its solution for $427k, then
obtain its funding, as opposed to the others whom spent upwards of $6
- $12M to the same end.
So I suggest you utilize the resources and knowledge you have at your disposal and attack on both fronts.
There you have it, a snapshot of the conversation generated by Jon Burke around the startup environment these days. If you've a relevant question in any of the LinkedIn categories that you'd like answered, let us know and we'll feature it in our weekly blog series on LinkedIn Answers.
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Mario Sundar Sep 24, 2007
Many of you may have seen the recent LinkedIn Answers event last week, which featured questions from a diverse group of LinkedIn users ranging from a Presidential candidate: Barack Obama, founder of Wikipedia: Jimmy Wales, Wall Street Journal columnist and Executive editor at All Things D: Kara Swisher, and two best selling authors: Robert Sutton and Penelope Trunk. The five questions brought in a total of nearly 4000 LinkedIn Answers! Stay tuned to the blog for a final tally of answers as well as the selected best answers from among the thousands of relevant answers.
In the meanwhile, let's continue this week with the featured LinkedIn Answers "Question of the week". This week we have Pavak Shah, Commercial Director at Gateway Technolabs, ask what hurdles one has faced in outsourcing Software Services. Quite an interesting question in this flattened global landscape (just ask Thomas Friedman). The question is still open so if you've a thought or two, feel free to leave your $.02 here.
Interesting question, you may think, but far more interesting are the answers that are streaming in. Here's a sampling of the LinkedIn Answers:
Bill Sequeira | Senior Technology Executive:
I have had experience outsourcing in India, Canada, and Russia. The
best experience by a wide margin has been with Russia. The most
difficult place to work with has been China because of the language
barrier (desisted after a few tries).
Biggest hurdle is having a complete methodology in place, on both
sides of the fence, with your own staff taking ownership of outsourced
deliverables.
Methodology simplifies communication/language issues, and I would
recommend embedding your own staff into the outsourced process to
ensure that deliverables are at the standards and usefulness that you
expect.
Vaibhav Pandey | Specialist at SAP Labs, India
To my understanding Outsourcing a complete business process is always a
challenging job. However, the key things that i have found interesting
in my experience are:
1.) Processes are the key to success: Ensure that the company to which you plan to outsource has all the processes in place.
2.) Communication: Communication of the goals, vision and
requirements is a must. Its very important that the offshore team
clearly understands the requirements and comes up with the same vision.
3.) Core Competency framework: Its very essential that the
offshore/outsourced team carries the basic core competencies required
to execute the project.
Mallikarjun Kasibhatta | Technology Delivery and Business Development, Accenture
Some of the key hurdles that one may face in a offshoring/outsourcing relationship for software services are:
- Inability to clearly define a successful Operating Model. It needs to
be understood and agreed upon by both the vendor and buyer of offshore
services. Establish calrity in roles and responsibilities in teams on
both sides of the relationship.
- Governance structures and escalation procedures need to realistic
and actionable. No point in having a structure and processes in place,
that do not work or cannot be put into action with enough rigour. The
action part can only be ensured by an enabling organization culture,
set of policies that drive the behaviour of people across levels to
make things happen
- Communication: put quality people and processes in place on both
sides of the shores/relationship, so that high levels of mutual trust,
reliability and transparency thrive through out the outsourcing
relationship
- Expectation management: Sub component of Communication but good
to detail a bit on this...set realistic and clear expectations for each
other and document key discussions, decisions for future reference of
both teams. Give the bad news early and dont 'sit' on it thinking it
will go away.
- Track Risks and Issues: track them actively, assign responsibility to
people to come up with mitigation plans and drive closure against a
date and follow up
- Transition points, hand offs and sign offs: These have to be clearly
defined and acheived in time as per the processes defined and only then
move to the "next steps"/phases - else they will become big hurdles for
offshroing success resulting in loss of valuable time and money
Definitely a lot to think about, although some of the key issues identified were similar across many answers. If you've a thought to add, feel free to add to the collective wisdom here. Also, let us know which specific categories from LinkedIn Answers would you like us to feature next week on the blog.
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Mario Sundar Sep 21, 2007
Alright, we've finally reached the last question in our Q&A event on startups and small businesses. We have over 1500 professionals answer Obama's question on how the next president can help small businesses thrive, which was then followed by author Robert Sutton's question (author of the "No A**hole rule") as to whether power corrupts (over 350 answers) and then Kara Swisher (columnist at Wall Street Journal and executive editor of All Things D) asked users what their dream career would be (over 1000 answers). The penultimate question was from Jimmy Wales of Wikipedia who asked what your most interesting find on Wikipedia was (almost 575 answers).
So, finally here we are at the last question from Boston Globe columnist and Penelope Trunk who wonders if there is still an old boys' network? Oh, boy! What do you think?
Here are some responses I thought provided interesting perspectives from over 220 answers we have received thus far:
Here are a few answers that users have sent in since the question went live. There were many balanced responses from LinkedIn users. Here are a few responses thus far:
Michael Liebowitz | VP, Associate Creative Director at Grey Advertising (Worldwide)
It looks like I'm in the minority but I don't really see it anymore, at
least not around me. I feel like there are more and more women in the
industry than ever before and I her about many women in executive
positions. Of course, I'm a man so what do you expect? If anything,
it's nothing like I see on "Mad Men".
Michael Schron | Business Development Manager at Robert Schron Associates; experienced Equity Investment Analyst
There is, but not so much in the traditional way people think of it. It
is no longer based as much on shared heritage (e.g. family, ethnicity)
as it is on having gone to the right school or worked for the right
company.
For example, on Wall Street being a local doesn't really count for
anything today, as the hiring is global, but having gone to Wharton or
having worked at Goldman Sachs will get you much further than having
gone to NYU or having worked at PaineWebber, because the prestige
factor is what is important now. Companies want to be able to say their
people come from the top name-brand institutions regardless of whether
they are from Boston or Bangalore.
I imagine that in this process, alot of hardworking and intelligent
people are left out, but the same was true of the old-stye networks as
well so in that regard nothing has changed. If you want to succeed in
this environment, you have to have gone to the right schools and worked
in the right places, in some cases it doesn't even matter what you
studied or what your performance was, because it's all about brand
recognition.
Tom Laszewski | Technical Director, Oracle
Yes, there are still many 'good old boy' networks. But not as many as
there have been. Also, with more women in the work place I have run
into some 'new girl' networks. Sometimes people tend to just like to
interact and work with people that look, act and think like themselves.
Very unfortunate and the bright side is this attitude is changing!
Darrell Long | Professor of Computer Science, University of California
Yes, of course, but now it contains girls too. You tend to work with
the people you know and trust. Absolute qualifications may show up on a
resumé, but you only really know whether you can work with a person
through personal experience or that of a person you trust.
Have a comment, leave one on the post or better still answer Penelope via LinkedIn Answers.
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Mario Sundar Sep 18, 2007
It's another day in our week long LinkedIn Answers Q&A event, which has already featured thus far, questions from Barack Obama, Robert Sutton, Kara Swisher on tech entrepreneurship. Today, we have Jimmy Wales, Owner of Wikia and Founder of Wikipedia, ask you what is the most interesting thing you've learned from Wikipedia (Answer here). And, as always, we have a wealth of answers to choose from; almost 400 answers, since the question was actually asked.
I thought I knew Wikipedia; not until I read through each answer and they're still pouring in. If you've a favorite Wikipedia find, answer Jimmy Wales' question here. Here are a few interesting answers:
Kurt Jarnagin | V.P. New Technology at Iconix Biosciences
I love the random article feature of Wikipedia, I visit 2-4 each
day. One recent interesting article was a very detailed article about
food and diet in Europe in the Middle Ages. I was quite interesting to
think about what foods were available and what foods arrived after the
discovery of the Americas and foods that were adopted later.
Christopher Edwards | Senior Designer, Sage Communications
Weird factoids about my hometown in western suburban Chicago. That
Bob Woodward was born in my hometown in Illinois. And through a series
of links beginning at Wikipedia -- that Allan Pinkterton was the first
deputy of the police department.
Anders Anderson | Research engineer at Uppsala University
On November 16, 2006, the main page featured a photo of a
distinguished man dressed in blue. I was amazed to learn that the
colour photograph was taken in 1911, and I spent the next few days (or
maybe even weeks) studying Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky's pictures of
pre-revolutionary Russia.
I had sort of assumed that the sky was blue and the grass was green
also before WWII, rather than varying shades of gray as I'm used to see
on old photos, but here I was looking at pretty stunning technical
evidence of that fact (unlike paintings, which may simply reflect the
painter's imagination). And that evidence had been preserved since even
before WWI, when my grandmother (b. 1896) was still a teenager. She
later became an amateur photographer, but all her photos from the
1920's and 1930's are in black and white.
It was almost like finding a time machine.
And, there are so many more answers to this question streaming in. Feel free to add your favorite Wikipedia find here.
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Mario Sundar Sep 17, 2007
As part of our continuing coverage on the LinkedIn Answers' Q&A event; close on the heels of Barack Obama (US Senator, Presidential Candidate) and Robert Sutton (Author, No A**hole rule) asking LinkedIn users questions on startups and small business, we have Kara Swisher (Co-executive editor, All Things D) ask "if you could have an entirely different career right now, what would it be?"
Since, I did make a career transition myself a couple of years ago, having moved all the way from being a software engineer to a community evangelist, this was a question I could relate to. And, I was even more surprised to see that the answers to Kara's question ran the gamut from wannabe movie stars to a dream of managing the New York Knicks! And, in between all this a large swath of responses veered towards creative pursuits. Here are a few:
Charlie Watt | ICT Policy and Strategy Consultant
Astronomer. Although my degree is in Physics, I find my career is now
in economic development! However I visited Kitt Peak in Arizona
recently; hired a large (26" mirror) telescope and the services of an
astronomer and took images of galaxies, star clusters etc..... (See other LinkedIn Answers from Charlie)
Mike Slone | Interactive Creative Director
I'd move just outside of Austin, Texas and become an organic
farmer/rancher. My ideal crops would be lavender, cotton, and maybe
grapes for wine. I'd then find a way to sell specialized products grown
on my land to places like Whole Foods and then directly online. (See other LinkedIn Answers from Mike)
Bryan Marek | Internet Researcher
Something outdoors. Maybe in a park or something like that. I would say
farming or ranching but those people have it harder than I do in terms
of maintaining a profit margin. I feel that my perfect career would put
me near a forest, mountains, or wide open spaces. Or near a large body
of water for that matter. I love the ocean as well. My problem is how
do I find a career that involves those environments when I grew up in
the suburbs in northeast Ohio? I hope I find out one day. (see other LinkedIn Answers from Bryan)
Henk Voges | Manager, Human Capital Advisory Services at Ernst & Young Consulting
Sole owner of a cozy little coffee shop somewhere in a brilliant
location with a really solid client base of nice warm, friendly chatty
people who bring all their friends to buy more coffee. (see other LinkedIn Answers from Henk)
Kara's question may relate to a hypothetical situation, but for those of you who're seriously considering a career switch, what are some tips and tricks? Just earlier today, Mark Huntsman from Earnmydegree.com, wrote about five tips for those planning a career change and the primary starting point he enumerated was to "explore your network". Also, feel free to check out Career Journals' tips on switching careers, here and here.
So, interested in making a switch - maybe it's time to start thinking of your professional network!
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Let's start off this week with another question from the LinkedIn Answers Q&A event, featuring questions on Startups and Small Businesses. Robert Sutton (View his blog) author of "No A**hole Rule" and Professor of Management Science and Engineering at Stanford University, asked last week if power corrupts. Here's the question:
Does Power Corrupt?
As people become more powerful, there's a tendency for bad behavior to surface. What suggestions do you have for leaders to avoid becoming a jerk in the face of rising pressure and demands?
Click here to check out over 350 answers we've received thus far to this question. Bob talks about some of the interesting answers in a couple of blog posts, which can be accessed here and here.
We took a spin through some of those answers and realized that a majority of them fall between; well, there were only two options here -- either "Yes" or "No", but we did find a slew of interesting responses from across the spectrum. Here they are:
Mohan Dutt | Oracle e-business suite evangelist
True leaders use power as a catalyst for innovation and change. They
empower their team members and help them achieve stretch goals. Rising
pressure and demands are today's world order and leadership is exhibited by those who are proactive and use their power efficiently. (See Mohan's other LinkedIn Answers)
Andrew Talbot | VP, Strategic Consulting at Epsilon
The non-jerks in power have generally been reluctant to serve. The
best way to limit the jerks is to draft decent people into the roles
who would never seek them. (see Andrew's other LinkedIn Answers)
Kevin Jackson | Principal, CSC Consulting
Power corrupts in many cases. This is why when we see that
down-to-earth powerful person, we are in awe, that truly humble
celebrity. Interestingly, power doesn't have to corrupt. One can be
competent, without wielding power unabashed. (see Kevin's other LinkedIn Answers)
Don McClure | President, Digital Element, Inc.
Power can corrupt to the extent that it reduces the powerful person's
reliance on other's acceptance, which decreases the social pressure
that helps one to avoid temptation.
Chuck Stormon | VP, Strategy at Tekelec
I would say that it is not power that corrupts. Perhaps the bad
behaviour or at least the predisposition for bad behavior is there all
along, and only becomes apparent when influence and scrutiny grow along
with power. (see Chuck's other LinkedIn Answers)
Jennifer (Ano) Cole | Project Coordinator at Nike Power doesn't corrupt, rather it's society's treatment of power and
how that power is used by the person wielding it. Getting used to
'giving in' to that feeling of entitlement (because
you've attained a certain amount of power) is what transforms powerful
people into massive jerks. (see Jennifer's other LinkedIn Answers)
Louis D'Esposito | Creative Director/President at Listen & Look
I do not think power in itself corrupts. Certain prerequisites such as
a lack of humility, a lack of self-confidence and misanthropic
tendencies all contribute to lead to power madness. What is truly
interesting is how these people can transfer this state unto the
population. (see Louis' other LinkedIn Answers)
Michael Seidenfrau | First Vice President, Wachovia Securities
Power often times does corrupt.
Those who have power should spend some time giving back to the
community. Those who are giving of time (which is harder to do then
give money) aren't jerks.
The way a powerful man or woman treats co workers and community members
speaks volume about that person. Stop and think, if all this power left
me when i wake up tomorrow, what would people think of me? If the
answer is this guy is a jerk, it's time to start changing your image. (see Michael's other LinkedIn Answers)
---
Robert Sutton's question is the second in our tech entrepreneurship LinkedIn
Answers Q&A event. You may have either answered or perused the first question in that series from Barack Obama (which
has already garnered almost 1500 answers). Check it out here
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Mario Sundar Sep 12, 2007
We've been featuring questions from entrepreneurs since we launched the blog, and today we're launching our LinkedIn Answers campaign around the world of Startups and Small Businesses. We have a slew of celebrities lending their questions on topics they'd like to hear your take on.
Barack Obama, Democratic presidential candidate asks:
How can the next president help small business and entrepreneurs thrive?
Feel free to check out Barack Obama's LinkedIn group. Alternatively, you can also access Obama's LinkedIn Profile where you can also add an Obama 08 campaign badge to your profile. What's more interesting is finding out who else has also added the Obama 08 badge, within your three degrees of separation.
Related press and blog articles:
- CNBC's Julia Boorstin covers Obama's online strategy on LinkedIn on their media call | See video here
- Digital Media Wire reports on Barack Obama joining the business crowd on LinkedIn
- Tech Digest wonders now that Barack Obama signs up to LinkedIn, expect Twitter account next, while Stowe Boyd reminds all that Barack Obama already does have a twitter account
- Switched discusses Obama's LinkedIn profile
Instead of leaving a comment here, please answer Obama's question on LI Answers. We'll have a follow-up post that summarizes some of the answers that have come in (within the first few hours we already have nearly 600 answers) and you can hear about the best answers through the blog.
Please Note: This is not an endorsement.
We welcome participation from candidates of all parties asking questions to LinkedIn's professional and business community. We also appreciate your active participation through your answers, questions and comments.
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Mario Sundar Sep 09, 2007
Just last week, we chronicled New York Times' columnist David Pogue's question, "LinkedIn...Why?", which already had nearly 100 answers on his blog. Some of the answers ranged from staying in touch to fulfilling the promise of professional networking and so we solicited answers to the same question from users at the end of our own blog post.
Thus far, we've received over 35 answers and look forward to hearing your take on why you use LinkedIn. Here's a smattering of answers from users at different stages of adoption; some a few days old and some joined LinkedIn a few years ago. Here they are:
I am still new to Linkedin - joined only around 9 days back.
Even in this short duration, I have been able to locate a lot of my
old friends, classmates and colleagues, with whom I would have liked to
stay in touch but could not do so.
I am sure that other benefits will also start flowing in, once I
start making use of all the features being offered by LinkedIn
connectivity.
Mariano Errichiello (Italy), currently Vice President External Relations AIESEC South America, has been using it for longer than Anil and is working on expanding his "working" network?:
I started using LinkedIn few months ago and soon I got the utility.
It's an independent platform to share peoples' networks and take
advantages by it. I keep on using it cause me, as VP External
Relations, I need such kind of tools to expand my network and earn
credibility. Right now I'm just taking care of my profile and sharing
my network...as soon as possible I'm gonna start to use it to enlarge
my "working" network.
Eric Mariacher (USA), who has been on LinkedIn for longer than Mariano and Anil currently find the following most useful to him:
Here are the 2 main advantages I see in using LinkedIn:
* "get recommendations from current and past colleagues posted on your profile"
That is one of the top feature that does not exists when simply posting your resume on the web.
* "make heavy use of the Q&A feature on LinkedIn"
Show your competencies and what you stand for by using one of the top
"LinkedIn plus" feature. By browsing through your questions and answers
people wanting to know you better will get a better feeling of who you
are.
Speaking of new users, we recently added our 14 millionth user and had a mid-day soiree at our Mountain View HQ to celebrate the occasion. Check out some of the pictures we took on the occasion on the left hand tab on this page under "photos". You can also access all the 421 pictures we've added thus far to the LinkedIn photo pool. Take a trip down memory lane with us; images include those taken at the Webbys & Lunch 2.0, cube chic, picnics, softball games, in the black party, etc... You get the picture...
Feel free to subscribe to our photos via Flickr so you can stay up to date on the latest happenings at LinkedIn. Thanks to Jerry Luk, Brooke Watts, Steve Ganz and Nicholas Welihozkiy for their continued contributions.
